Closures are of course very well known. Examples of closures are found, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,194,453 (Cherba), 3,123,259 (Musel), 3,326,425 (Porter), 3,406,880 (Stull), 3,406,880 (Stull), 3,598,285 (Stull), 3,981,421 (McDowell), 4,438,870 (Stull), 4,754,899 (Stull), 4,773,572, (Stull), 4,842,169 (Stull), 4,927,065 (Beck) and 4,967,941 (Beck).
The Porter patent is directed to a closure cap with a very small dispensing orifice and which reduces the amount of fluid near the outlet hole of the cap when the hole is closed off by a closure pin mounted on the nozzle. Specifically, the patent discloses a central upstanding post 18 with a slot 20 opening to the top surface of the post and a cap body 26 mounted to the post. FIG. 1 of the Porter patent shows the container closure cap in a closed position. FIG. 2 shows the cap in a fully open position FIG. 3 shows the cap in a semi-closed position. In at least one dispensing position, the cap body inner periphery clears the top surface of the post. The Porter patent discloses a small dispensing orifice as it has a large post with a notch. The Beck '065 patent, like the Porter patent, shows a central post 14 having a slot 26 along a substantial length of an upper portion thereof opening to a top surface 28. Both the Porter and Beck '065 patents show:
(a) a cap body reciprocally mounted on the central post and having an inner periphery which cooperates with: PA1 (b) at least two dispensing positions for dispensing the contents at least of two different rates. In one position, the cap body inner periphery clears the top surface as the cap body is moving along the post away from the closed position.
(i) the peripheral wall; and PA2 (ii) at least one slot to provide a closed position with a least one slot being above the cap body inner periphery; and
The Beck '941 patent is directed to a twist lock adjustable measuring closure cap for dispensing the contents of a container having a central post 14, including a top surface and a substantially imperforate wall 44 having an opening 68 on the top surface for metering the contents to be dispensed. A cap body 10 with an inner peripheral wall is reciprocally mounted on the post 14 for a variable opening between the cap inner periphery and the post peripheral wall to provide a closure position and a dispensing position as the cap body 10 moves away from the closure position. The '941 patent also discloses "detents" which provide for positional indication during movement of the cap body that it has reached a closure position or the dispensing position.
Despite the existence of such prior art, the prior art Porter and the two Beck patents do not disclose a substantially large dispensing orifice for better flow of the contents to be dispensed or for dispensing thicker contents. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a closure having a substantially large dispensing orifice for better flow and/or for use when dispensing thicker contents.
Another object of the invention is to provide a closure with a written visible indicator to the user of the correct dispensing position.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a closure have multiple dispensing positions without additional detents in a post.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a closure which is more economical than certain prior art closures.